Johannesburg: In an
unprecedented move, dozens of ruling Zanu-PFMembers of Parliament (MPs)
walked out of parliament in protest against abill that empowers police to
detain corruption suspects for up to a monthwithout trial.

In
an unusual departure from tradition, opposition Movement forDemocratic
Change (MDC) MPs remained in their seats as Zanu-PF legislatorShuvai Mahofa
led the walkout late on Tuesday evening.

The Zanu-PF
parliamentarians also stayed away on Wednesday. Thiseffectively thwarted
plans to bulldoze the Criminal Procedure and EvidenceAmendment Bill
through parliament.

Zanu-PF MPs normally rubber stamp
President Robert Mugabe's proposedlegislation. But the proposed law has been
referred back to the ministry ofjustice, legal and parliamentary affairs
after it could not pass the firstreading.

The provisions of the
proposed law were brought into effect inFebruary through Mugabe's
extraordinary powers, which allow him to bypassparliament and decree laws
during emergencies.

However, they have to be ratified or approved
by parliament within sixmonths.

Zanu-PF businessman James
Makamba and Finance Minister Chris Kurunerihave been the most high-profile
victims of the regulations.

Zanu-PF MPs fear that, if they allow
the regulations to becomepermanent law, many would be targeted as Mugabe
seeks to win the hearts andminds of the urban electorate through his
much-vaunted anti-corruptioncrusade.

The regulations allow the
police to detain a suspect charged witheconomic crimes for seven days for
investigation. They can also disqualifythe courts from granting bail if they
invoke the regulations at the firstcourt appearance. This allows the police
to detain suspects for another 21days. An accused person can thus be
detained for up to 28 days.

The provisions currently in use
through the presidential powers aredue to lapse in August. The police would
then have to resort to the oldrules under which they can only detain
suspects for two days.

MDC MP Job Sikhala, who witnessed both the
walkout and the stayaway bythe Zanu-PF MPs, said: "They have shot down their
own bill. We did not evendebate it because they did not allow it to reach
the debating stage. This isthe most bizarre incident since I came to
parliament in 2000."

Sikhala added: "Most of (them) are the key
culprits in these economiccrimes. They know that if the police enforce the
law, they will be the mainvictims because they have externalised lots of
money.

"It's not like they are motivated by any desire for Zimbabwe
to havegood laws."

Sikhala said the decision by MDC MPs to
remain seated did not meanthey supported the bill. Welshman Ncube, the MDC
MP who chairs theparliamentary legal committee, has already declared the
bill illegal andunconstitutional.

"It was a Zanu-PF circus ...
We only watched as the Zanu-PF circusunfolded. They started squabbling on
their own after (justice minister)Patrick Chinamasa had presented it before
they walked out," said Sikhala.

Two Zanu-PF legislators who refused
to be named said the bill was "awitch hunt against those who are not wanted
... particularly in relation tothe succession struggles".

The
proposed law could be easily used to settle political scores asthe party is
enmeshed in serious in-fighting over Mugabe's successor,
theysaid.

The Zanu-PF MPs planned their protest against the
bill at a specialcaucus before they walked out of parliament.

CONTENTS

1.
GENERAL COMMENT

2.
ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF INFORMATION THREATENED

3.
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY

1.
General comment

THE
government media provided more evidence of its compulsive disinformation
campaign to discredit government’s perceived enemies when the Chronicle refused to correct what were
reported to be severe distortions in its coverage of some of the deliberations
at the recently held Southern African Editors Forum (SAEF) meeting. In its
initial report (10/6), the paper’s editor, Stephen Ndlovu, claimed that one of
the guest speakers at the meeting, Gugulethu Moyo, had proposed war as a
solution to the Zimbabwean crisis. However, Moyo denied ever making such
statements and described the story as “either fictitious or
inaccurate” (The
Standard 13/6).

Her
denial was reinforced during the week by an SAEF statement published in the
Zimbabwe Independent (18/6) and
The Standard (20/6). It
castigated Ndlovu for distorting the truth and conducting himself in a manner
“unworthy of a
journalist and editor”.

Said
the regional editors’ body: “The articles appearing in the
Chronicle… are part of a blatant disinformation campaign which runs counter to
any hint at truth or professionalism”.

But
despite this, the Chronicle
(17/6) insisted that its report was factual.

In
its lead article ironically headlined, Press
freedom under threat, the paper alleged that the sponsor for the
editors’ meeting, the Institute for Democracy in Southern Africa (IDASA), had
exerted “immense
pressure” on SAEF “to discredit an article exposing
the double standards and insincerity of…Moyo”, adding that
“like a dog pandering
to its master at the expense of media freedom, … SAEF communications
co-ordinator…immediately sent e-mails rebutting Chronicle
revelations.” The paper then repeated its allegations against
Moyo adding that, “the
Chronicle sticks to its story”.

As
in previous cases where the government media has been accused of grossly
unprofessional conduct, the Media and Information Commission was conspicuous by
its silence, once again suggesting that the harsh criminal penalties contained
in the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
are only intended for the privately owned media.

More
worrying however is news of the government’s intention to extend these
unacceptably harsh penalties for what amounts to trivial administrative
regulatory offences. According to TheHerald, (19/6) government intends to amend
section 83 of the Act – which prohibits unaccredited journalists from practising
– so as to provide a penalty provision, which is currently absent. Said the
paper: “Persons who
contravene this section will be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or
imprisonment not exceeding two years or
both.”

MMPZ
condemns this offensive provision that clearly gives the MIC the
unconstitutional authority to deny a journalist his right to work, and this
fresh attempt to criminalize and incarcerate “unlicensed”
journalists.

The
government was also reported to be planning to amend section 40 of the Act,
which stipulates that some members of the MIC should be nominated by both
associations of journalists and media houses. But since an association of
“media houses does not
yet exist”, reported the paper, “the Bill proposes that
nominations should be received from either or both of such types of
associations”. The paper did not question the underlying
implications of such changes, news of which were buried on page
11.

2.
Alternative sources of information threatened

THE
government’s intolerance of critical viewpoints and its efforts to stifle the
few remaining alternative sources of information accessible to Zimbabweans
assumed greater momentum during the week. Having succeeded in closing down yet
another locally based privately owned newspaper, The Tribune, under controversial
circumstances, the government appeared to have turned its sights on the South
African-based weekly, The Mail and
Guardian and the privately owned radio station, Studio 7, which it
accuses of disseminating anti-Zimbabwe propaganda from Botswana.

The
Voice of America (VoA) runs Studio 7 under its Africa service programme while
Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube owns The
Mail and Guardian.

ZBC
(14/6, main news bulletins), The
Herald and Chronicle
(15/6) reported Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as having officially objected
to his Botswana counterpart, Boyce Sebetela, to the hosting of the radio station
through that country’s medium wave frequency (909.000kHz). The two government
dailies quoted Moyo as saying government would not have been bothered had the
station been broadcasting from “the moon or United States”
sinceVoA is an extension of US propaganda. Said Moyo: “What is an issue is that there is
a specific broadcasting material content branded as Studio 7 which can be
received on short-wave and that material is found on a frequency allocated to
Botswana.”

Moyo
was not asked whether VoA’s use of a Botswana frequency constituted a
crime.

However,
Studio 7 (15/6) did shed some light on the legal status of the station. It
noted: “The
International Broadcasting Bureau has a longstanding agreement for a
transmission site in Botswana which allows VoA to broadcast on short-wave and
medium wave to all of Southern Africa. People around the world including
Southern Africa have long relied on VoA as a trusted source of
news.”

In
another related matter, The Sunday
Mail (20/6) used unnamed sources to build a case against The Mail and Guardian, which it warned,
could soon “find
itself in trouble with Zimbabwe authorities” for allegedly using
“unregistered” local journalists as correspondents and planning to publish the
paper clandestinely in the country without registration as stipulated under
Zimbabwe’s repressive media laws. No evidence was provided to substantiate the
claims. Rather, the paper tried to dignify its specious claims by roping in the
Media and Information Commission (MIC) head, Tafataona Mahoso, who said that if
the allegations against the paper were true his commission would seek answers on
the matter from the relevant authorities and even from “those who regulate the media in
South Africa”.

And
on the home front, the government media continued with its one-sided coverage of
the closure of The Tribune,
designed to perpetuate MIC’s justification of the shutdown. For example,
The Herald and the Chronicle (18/6) based their coverage of
the alleged “mystery”
surrounding the ownership structure of the weekly paper almost exclusively on
the MIC’s interpretation of the matter and drowned the explanation from the
paper’s owner, Kindness Paradza.

In
fact, while the two papers quoted the MIC querying the “real owners” of
TheTribune because its five directors
“hold only 100 shares
of the 20 000 authorised shares” they did nothing to verify
Paradza’s claims that only 100 of the 20,000 shares had been issued while the
rest remained unissued so as to accommodate future shareholders as per corporate
practice.

Sadly,
the private media did not clarify the matter either, forcing The Tribune directors to do this via an
advertisement they inserted in The
Standard.

To
add to Zimbabweans’ information woes, Studio 7 (18/6) Radio Zimbabwe and ZTV
(18/6, 8pm) reported that the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and
Communications had accused Moyo of meddling in the affairs of ZBC, thereby
eroding its independence and threatening its viability. In fact, this further
confirmed the long held suspicion that Moyo was behind the broadcaster’s
partisan editorial content. However, the government media downplayed this
revelation by suffocating it with Moyo’s denial.

Meanwhile,
mystery continued to shroud the exact role of Transmedia Corporation Private
Limited, which the Business section of The
Herald (17/6) reported as having been licensed by the Broadcasting
Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) “in terms of the Broadcasting
Services Act no CAP.2:06 …to exclusively utilize the Ultra High Frequency (UHF)
for the provision of data casting and web casting.”The report
said Transmedia, whose core business was signal transmission, could use the UHF
platform “to provide
Internet and email access to corporate bodies, cyber cafes, small offices, home
offices and residential users”.

However,
besides drowning its readers in technical jargon over the use of the UHF
platform, the paper did not give any background to the communications company or
spell out exactly how it was going to use the UHF frequency.

ZTV
(15/6, 8pm) and Power FM (16/6, 6am) reports on this development were equally
hazy thereby leaving their audiences no wiser on the exact role of Transmedia.
Interestingly, The Herald (15/6)
fleetingly revealed that it was through investigations by Transmedia that had
established that “the
Voice of America propaganda station was being transmitted” from
Botswana.

3.
Agriculture and food security

THE
government media continued to parrot the authorities’ claims that Zimbabwe would
this year have a bumper harvest due to the success of the government’s agrarian
reforms, which the official media have repeatedly presented as receiving
adequate financial and technical support. But such a glowing picture of the
agricultural sector was dampened by private media reports on the new farmers’
concerns over government’s failure to meet their input demands, poor harvest
projections for the current winter wheat crop and the confusion over
government’s exact policy on nationalisation of land.

The
government media glossed over such problems besetting the agricultural sector in
an effort to portray government’s fast-track land reforms as the panacea to the
country’s grain deficit. Their stories were thus premised on abstract
projections calculated to inspire confidence amongst their audiences. For
example, the Chronicle (14/6)
reported approvingly of the disbursement of “more than $25
billion” to cereal growers by Agribank “in the past two
weeks” to boost winter wheat cropping but did not question the
wisdom of distributing the money about a month late considering that “cereal production starts in late
April”.

Neither
did it give a breakdown of how the funds were distributed among the farmers or
how many of them had benefited from the bank, which the paper reported, had been
given the mandate by government “to act as key financier to
farming activities under the land reforms”.

Similarly,
the paper unquestioningly reported that the parastatal Agriculture and Rural
Development Authority (ARDA) was poised to produce “a total of 3 345 tonnes of seed
maize” from 5,810 hectares. There was no elaboration on how many
tonnes of grain the country would realise from the seed.

ZTV
(15/6, 6pm, 8pm) and Power FM (14/6, 1pm) also carried similar “feel-good” news
pieces. For example, they quoted the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) acting chief
executive officer, Samuel Muvhuti, as saying that as a result of the country’s
projected bumper harvest, his board would now allow individuals to transport
five bags of maize from one place to another compared to last year’s two bags.
However, Muvhuti was not challenged to explain why such restrictions should
still exist if the country has produced enough grain this season.

Rather,
Radio Zimbabwe (16/6, 1pm, 8pm) allowed him to cobble up a conspiracy theory
saying the law was meant to prevent “those
who want to export our grain”from
doing so and
“some sectors like NGOs who want to stock grain in secluded places without
distributing it to the people”.

To
reinforce its positive picture of the country’s agricultural sector, ZTV (16/6,
6pm and 17/6, 8pm) announced the arrival of “40 percent” of the
heavy-duty agricultural equipment from Malaysia without explaining what the
percentage figure represented in real terms.

Not
to be outdone, The Herald (15/6)
relied entirely on Agriculture Minister Joseph Made’s hopefulness that nearly
20,000 hectares of land would be cleared this year at the Nuanetsi Irrigation
Project in Masvingo despite the paper’s own revelations that government had not
yet even procured the machinery to open up the area for
farming.

The
private media did not express such optimism.

The
Financial Gazette (20/6)
argued in its comment that the fact that government was still talking about
inputs for winter crops at “this late hour should be cause
for concern” and “should be blamed squarely on the
government mistakes …mismanagement and lack of forward planning”.
The paper also noted that the “teething problems”
plaguing land reform were neither improving the economic welfare of most of the
‘beneficiaries’ nor adding value to the national economy and therefore were
likely to “spawn worse
socio-economic difficulties than those experienced in the past”.
The paper contended that “given the government’s
upside-down priorities where resources are not being channelled where they are
needed most” then “detractors could just be
vindicated if Zimbabwe once again fails to feed itself” despite
the good rains it has received.

The
Sunday Mirror
(20/6) quoted resettled farmers and the leadership of the Zimbabwe Commercial
Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) expressing their concerns over government’s “moves in buying tractors and
other farming equipment, particularly for ARDA, when (newly resettled)
commercial farmers do not have the facilities”. ZCFU president
Davison Mugabe told the paper that although ARDA hired its equipment to farmers,
it worked on its own farms first before hiring out the equipment and therefore
had always tilled the farmers’ lands late. Said Mugabe: “This prejudices the farmer as
(s)/ he does not achieve intended crop targets and usually loses out
financially…”

Despite
such revelations, which have negative underlying implications on the country’s
food security, the authorities seemed unwilling to engage food aid agencies to
stave off possible starvation. Studio 7 (15/6), SW Radio Africa (16/6) and
The Daily Mirror (16/6), for
example, reported that a meeting between government and UN humanitarian affairs
envoy and World Food Programme chief James Morris had been called off after
being told that no government official would be available to meet him.

Morris
was reportedly expected in the country for discussions with government about the
country’s food and humanitarian assistance.

The
Daily Mirror
quoted permanent secretary in the Information Ministry George Charamba saying,
“there was no
likelihood of another meeting being held soon.”Other unnamed
sources quoted in the story revealed that government had little interest in
meeting Morris as they feel “the issue he intends to bring up
for discussion – food aid – is a dead letter.”

However,
not all ZANU PF members agreed with government’s bumper harvest
forecasts.

The
Standard
(20/6) quoted ZANU PF Central Committee member Titus Mukungulushi Chauke
describing recent claims by President Mugabe and his government that Zimbabwe
would have surplus food as “irresponsible and utter
rubbish”. According to Chauke, hundreds of thousands of people in
areas like Chiredzi, Chivi, Mwenezi and Zaka were still buying food because they
did not grow enough for their needs.

Meanwhile,
the public remained confused about government’s exact land nationalisation
policy after The Herald (15/6)
and Power FM (15/6, 1pm)reported
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as reversing a recent proclamation by Lands
Minister John Nkomo that government intended nationalising all productive
farmland. Moyo’s announcement alleged that, “there has not been any change of
government policy or law in respect of land tenure and
ownership”, adding that only “…land acquired under the
fast-track and current phase of the land reforms automatically reverts to the
State”.

But
The Financial Gazette viewed
Moyo’s statement as a major retreat by government after a “flurry” of
criticism on the constitutionality of the land nationalization plan.
Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku told the paper that government’s
“latest flip-flop is a
sign of confusion and carelessness”. SW Radio Africa (15/6)
quoted Justice for Agriculture official John Worsely-Worsick offering similar
views.

Feel
free to write to MMPZ. We may not able to respond to everything but we will look
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reports, and more information about the Project, please visit our website at http://www.mmpz.org.zw

From Michael
Padera in KARIBA.A RECENT study by the United Nations Children's Education
Fund (UNICEF)estimates that there are 12 000 street kids in Zimbabwe with
over 80 percentof them in Harare and Bulawayo.

This was revealed by
the director of social services in the Ministry ofPublic Service, Labour and
Social Welfare Mr Sydney Mhishi yesterday duringthe ongoing Urban Councils
Association annual conference being held here.

"Greater Harare, including
Mbare, accounts for 67 percent of the nationaltotal. The proportion of
children becoming street kids has continued toincrease with girls becoming
more visible, thereby posing a big challenge tourban councils," he
said.

He challenged local authorities to take advantage of facilities put
in placeby Government to alleviate the plight of the children such as the
Childrenin Difficult Circumstances (CDC) fund.

Mr Mhishi said the
fund was not being used by the local authorities.

He said the problem of
abandoned children needed urgent attention.

Mr Mhishi said there were a
number of abandoned children in the country'swelfare centres with some
having stayed in such institutions for as long as10 years.

He said
local authorities should identify child headed families in theirareas and
forward the names to his ministry to facilitate the processing offinancial
assistance.

"We have a facility that is not being utilised. Once we are
able to locatesome of the houses, we pay. You, as local authorities should
designate someof your houses as orphanages where we can come in and help,"
he said.

However, he said, non-Governme-ntal organisations wishing to
assist localauthorities should do so with the express authority of the same
authorities.

"You should sign memorandums of understanding detailing the
roles andparameters under which the NGOs would assist," he said.

In a
related issue, Mr Mhishi said because of high burial costs, a number
ofpeople were abandoning the bodies of their relatives leaving
Governmentwithout an option but to offer pauper's burials.

He blasted
some local authorities for refusing to provide burial space forsome of the
unclaimed bodies.

Mr Mhishi said his department was willing to enter into
grave diggingcontracts with local authorities and pay them for the
services.

From Innocent Gore in MAPUTO,
MozambiqueZIMBABWE will only allow developing and friendly countries to
observe itselections and will not permit former colonial masters and
imperialists to doso, President Mugabe said yesterday.

In a speech
that drew roaring applause from delegates from the 79-memberAfrican,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries at a summit of heads of stateand
government here, President Mugabe said Zimbabweans had to fight fortheir
liberty and that he had to spend 11 years in prison fighting forfreedom from
colonial rule.

Britain would not give Zimbabweans freedom willingly and
Zimbabweans had towage an armed struggle in order to achieve independence,
democracy andfreedom, thanks to support from organisations such as the then
FrontlineStates, Organisation of African Unit and other organisations and
countrieswhich provided political, moral and material support.

The
President said it would, therefore, be folly for the country to now askthe
former colonisers to come and observe its elections.

"And now you hear a
voice in London, you hear a man, narrow-minded little(British Prime Minister
Tony) Blair, saying there is no freedom in Zimbabwe.So, when we have this
fight with the British, it's because they were ouroppressors . . . we will
not allow them to judge us. We ask our friends tojudge us. When you hear
that there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe on CNN,that is
nonsense.

"Our neighbours know us. That is why we say our elections
should be observedby people of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the
Third World. We willnot allow the erstwhile imperialists to judge our
elections," he said.

The President's comments come in the wake of an
admission by Mr Blair thathe is working with the opposition MDC and some
people in South Africa andsouthern Africa to effect a change of government
in Zimbabwe.

Mr Blair told the House of Commons last week that he had
joined forces withthe MDC on measures and sanctions to bring about regime
change in Zimbabwe.

Election observers from the Commonwealth, mostly of
British or Australianorigin and some European countries which are
anti-Zimbabwe and pro-MDC,criticised the 2002 presidential election, saying
it was not free and fair.

But observers from the Third World, the
Southern African DevelopmentCommunity and from countries such as Russia and
China declared the pollsfree and fair and a true representation of the will
of the Zimbabweanpeople.

Cde Mugabe said Mr Blair and United States
President George W. Bush werelike schoolyard bullies. He said the two had
lied to the world "usinglanguage of mass deception" that ousted Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein hadweapons of mass destruction.

"Look at
what's happening today. This I say: Can't we raise our voice evenat the
United Nations? Must these men be allowed to get away with horrificaction?
Daily, they are bombing women and children. Must we be quiet?" thePresident
told the summit.

Cde Mugabe, who earlier on held talks with Cuban
Vice-President Cde CarlosLage Davila, criticised further sanctions being
imposed on the LatinAmerican country by the US.

He called on ACP
countries to support Cuba, which was doing a lot for otherThird World
countries, such as providing them with medical doctors. Morethan 20 000
Cuban practitioners are working in most developing countries,with Zimbabwe
having more than 200.

"Surely we must say something. Sometimes, because
of poverty, we can't saythings we believe in. We are afraid that if we say
this we will be deniedmoney," he said, adding that founding Ghanaian
President Kwame Nkrumahrepeatedly pointed out that one cannot sacrifice
principle on the altar ofexpediency.

President Mugabe said while
developing nations needed friends, those friendsmust recognise them as equal
partners.

"This idea of lesser friends or friends of lesser dignity, that
relationshipis not what we seek. Our historical relations with the European
Union mustbe on terms of recognising each other as equal friends and that
way we go along way. Let us move along the path we have charted with those
who identifywith us, those who are true friends with us. Let us march
together inshaping our future."

Cde Mugabe said there was need for
increased intra-ACP co-operation amongThird World countries in their fight
against poverty, hunger and disease.

Giving the example of Zambia which
is rich in copper, President Mugabeexpressed concern that some developing
countries were sourcing supplies fromfar away yet their neighbours might be
having the same resources.

But the President said co-operation among
developing countries would onlysucceed in an environment where there is no
conflict.

Zimbabwe, he said, had to send troops to Mozambique to help the
governmentof that country create an environment of peace and prosperity in
the 1980s.

In 1998, Zimbabwe, together with Angola and Namibia, had to
deploy troops tothe Democratic Republic of Congo to create peace and an
environmentconducive to economic development.

A Kenyan delegate spoke
strongly in support of President Mugabe's views. Hesaid the ACP grouping's
relations with the EU was colonial and was hinderingintra-ACP co-operation
as every developing country would be focusing ontrade with the EU instead of
trade among developing countries.

He proposed an intra-ACP summit to
discuss the unipolar world, sayingfailure to do so would result in
developing countries debating in a worlddefined by Europe.

Quoting
the legendary Bob Marley and black consciousness movement activistMarcus
Garvey, a Jamaican delegate said Third World countries mustemancipate
themselves from mental slavery.

President Robert Mugabe's rosy
forecast of a bumper harvest in Zimbabwe wascontradicted by his own
government yesterday, when an official report said2.3 million people needed
immediate international food aid.

The seizure of white-owned
farms has combined with drought to crippleagriculture in Zimbabwe. But Mr
Mugabe's official message is that his landgrab has markedly increased
production and made Zimbabwe self-sufficient.Last month, he refused help
from the United Nations World Food Programme,saying: "Why foist this food
upon us? We don't want to be choked."

He brushed aside the fact that
Zimbabwe has lived on food aid since 2001 andthat 6.5 million people, more
than half the population, depended oninternational help last year. By
contrast, his office forecast a maize cropfor this year of 2.4 million tons,
more than enough to meet domestic needs.

Yet a report from the Zimbabwe
Vulnerability Assessment Committee provides astrong antidote to the
president's optimism. It concludes that 2.3 millionpeople in rural Zimbabwe
"will not be able to meet their minimum cerealneeds during the 2004/05
season".

The report adds that food aid "for the most vulnerable people"
should besought immediately. The UN, aid agencies and Zimbabwean
governmentdepartments compiled the assessment based on a survey completed in
April. MrMugabe's officials appear not to share his optimism.

The
report did not cover the food needs of Zimbabwe's cities, whereshortages
last year were at least as serious as those in the countryside.Figures for
December suggested that 2.5 million urban Zimbabweans were goinghungry,
bringing the total needing food aid to 4.8 million.

But Mr Mugabe's
regime has effectively ended co-operation with the UN. JamesMorris, the UN
envoy for humanitarian affairs in southern Africa, isconducting a tour of
the region. The Zimbabwean government declined toreceive him, saying that
officials in Harare had no time for a meeting.

Zimbabwe will hold
parliamentary elections next March. Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PFparty has been
accused of channelling food to its supporters and denyinghelp to anyone
suspected of backing the opposition Movement for DemocraticChange. By
keeping the UN and aid agencies out of Zimbabwe, Mr Mugabe canensure that
his regime controls all food aid. Critics suspect that this ishis real
objective.

But if Zimbabwe needs international help to avoid widespread
starvation, MrMugabe's refusal to co-operate with the UN could have
disastrousconsequences. In Johannesburg, Mr Morris said: "If we were called
upon to behelpful and respond, this is not something you can do on 24-hour
notice."

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Nearly 5 million people will need food aid
over thenext year despite government claims Zimbabweans won't need such
relief, aU.N.-led group said Thursday.

At least 2.3 million rural
people won't have enough food either because theydon't grow enough or
couldn't afford to purchase enough, ZimbabweVulnerability Assessment
Committee said in a report.

The panel, composed of U.N. agencies and aid
groups, said earlier that about2.5 million urban people will need food aid
because of deepening poverty.

Officials of aid and humanitarian groups
said the two assessments meant atotal of about 5 million of the 12.5 million
population will have to begiven food help during the next several
months.

The government has forecast record harvests this year of 2.4
million tons ofcereals. But U.N. crop forecasters estimate Zimbabwe will
produce only halfits food needs of about 2 million tons this
year.

Zimbabwe was once a regional breadbasket. The often-violent seizure
ofthousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to black
Zimbabweans,combined with erratic rains, have crippled the nation's
agriculture-basedeconomy since 2000.

Opposition leaders accuse the
government of lying about corn production andsecretly importing food to use
as a political weapon in the run-up to keyparliamentary elections next
year.

From Michael Padera in
KaribaDelegates attending the 63rd Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe
(UCAZ)conference here have roundly attacked the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority(Zinwa) for not taking into consideration the plight of the people
in itswater pricing system.

However, the Government said local
authorities were the major culprits inthe matter as the surcharges they
levied on water were outrageous.

The Secretary of Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development, Mr PartsonMbiriri, said some local authorities
draw up their annual budgets with hugesurcharges on water in
mind.

"Water has been seen as a golden goose. That cannot continue. Water
is abasic commodity. There should be a marginal mark-up," he
said.

UCAZ president Mr Fani Phiri said Zinwa increases its tariffs at
least threeor four times a year whereas councils could not effect similar
increasesbecause of legal constraints.

He said as a result, there was
need to re-examine the Urban Councils Act andmake it responsive to the
changes in the present economic environment.

Bindura mayor Advocate
Martin Dinha said the National Water Act should berevisited to amend or
delete clauses that permit the commercialisation ofwater
provision.

He said instead of serving water consumers' needs, Zinwa had
"actuallybecome a monster".

"We must look at the commercialisation of
water. When Zinwa came into beingwe thought it was going to benefit the
people.

"We created an animal that is eating all the children in the
village. Let usrelook at the whole question of the Water Act."

Zinwa
was established by an Act of Parliament in 1998.

Adv Dinha was supported
by other delegates who also attacked Zinwa's way ofoperation.

But Mr
Mbiriri lambasted the behaviour of local authorities which default onpayment
of their water bills to Zinwa.

He said Zinwa was owed $1,764 billion by
defaulting local authorities andthis huge debt was crippling
operations.

Mr Mbiriri announced that new farmers could now get temporary
water permitsfor irrigation purposes.

He said the farmers would pay
Zinwa through stop orders once they sell theirproduce.

Mr Mbiriri
denied allegations that Zinwa was abusing the funds it collectsfrom local
authorities by purchasing luxury vehicles.

"There are no excesses in
Zinwa," he said.

He said the money was legitimately used to maintain the
existing watersources and to explore new projects.

The Democratic Alliance
has called for a probe into allegedly suspiciousproperty deals by the family
of the Equatorial Guinea president. PresidentTeodoro Obiang Nguema's family
are alleged to have purchased properties inCape Town for about R50-million.
This comes at a time that a United Statesfederal grand jury is investigating
a corporate bank account, allegedlyunder Nguema's control, into which oil
companies are said to have pouredmillions. Critics of the president accuse
him of profiteering from thecountry's oil reserves while ignoring human
rights issues. Domestic workersat a spectacular Bishops Court house said
they had heard that the son ofEquatorial Guinea's president was scheduled to
move in. The house isreported to have been sold for R26-million. This is the
second house linkedto Nguema. In parliament yesterday, Democratic Alliance
leader Tony Leonsaid he had received information from councillors that
Nguema's family wasbuying a property in Clifton worth R23,5-million. Finance
spokesperson CobusGrobler was not prepared to supply information on the
rates clearancecertificate reported to have been lodged with the Cape Town
council, whichshowed the transfer of the house to Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the
president's34-year-old son. Grobler said it was the policy of the council to
protectthe identity of the buyer. But councillor Belinda Walker yesterday
confirmedthat she had told the Democratic Alliance about the sale. Raenette
Taljaard,Democratic Alliance spokesperson on finance, yesterday urged the
FinancialIntelligence Centre (FIC) to investigate the sale of the two Cape
Townproperties. Under the FIC Act, all estate agents must report
suspicioustransactions or when they are about to receive the proceeds of
unlawfulactivities. "The family is believed to have spent close on
R50-million onproperty in and around the city while the family's finances
are beinginvestigated by the US senate and the FBI," Taljaard
said.

US oil companies have invested heavily in the tiny West African
state, whichis expected to provide up to 5% of US oil within the next few
years.However, the bulk of the country's people have seen little benefit,
with 60%of the population surviving on less than R6 a day. In Zimbabwe,
which hasclosed many embassies around the world citing foreign-currency
problems, hasagreed to exchange ambassadors with Equatorial Guinea and
establish fulldiplomatic relations with the West African country. The move
is mostprobably aimed at facilitating the extradition of the 70 South
Africansarrested in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting to overthrow
Nguema'sgovernment. Zimbabwe is also trying to get oil from Equatorial
Guinea inexchange for the alleged mercenaries. The two countries, which did
not haveany diplomatic contacts prior to the arrests of the suspected
mercenaries,have warmed to each other as they seek to make political capital
out of thedetained South Africans. Nguema, supported by Zimbabwean President
RobertMugabe, has alleged that the coup plot was backed by powerful states
bent ondestabilising smaller African nations. Mugabe's government rushed to
approveregulations allowing the extradition of suspects to Equatorial Guinea
inApril. If extradited, the men will face summary execution in
EquatorialGuinea.

HARARE, June 25 (Xinhuanet) --
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabeon Friday received Eritrean President
Issaias Afewerki's special envoy, whodelivered a message requesting him to
intervene in resolving a long-standingborder dispute between Eritrea and
Ethiopia.

Speaking to reporters after delivering the message,
EritreanEnergy and Mines Minister Tesfai Gebreselassie said that his country
wantedMugabe to exert his influence on the African Union (AU) to take
actionagainst Ethiopia for reneging on the verdict of a United Nations
Commissionestablished to resolve the dispute.

Territorial
disputes between the two Horn of Africa neighbors ledto a war in 1998. The
Zimbabwean president was part of the high leveldelegation mandated by the AU
to see to a peaceful resolution of the disputesoon after it erupted in
1998.

After two years of bitter fighting that left thousands of
soldiersfrom both sides dead, a peace agreement was reached in December
2000.

Under the agreement, the parties agreed that a
neutralBoundaryCommission be established with a mandate to delimit and
demarcatethe boundary that divides the two countries.

A
former Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by the Britishin1941. In 1952,
the United Nations resolved to establish it as anautonomous entity federated
with Ethiopia. It split with Ethiopia in 1993.

A United Nations
peacekeeping force patrols a 25 km widebufferzone along the unmarked 1,000
km border between Eritrea and Ethiopia.Demarcation of the disputed border
was indefinitely postponed after Ethiopiarefused to back
off.

Eritrea has called for sanctions to force Ethiopia to
accept theruling, which was supposed to be "final and binding" under
theterms of apeace deal.

The
Criminal Procedure and Evidence Amendment Bill went through parliamentthis
week, despite opposition from some ruling ZANU-PF MPs. President
RobertMugabe had already used his extraordinary powers to decree the
provisions ofthe bill in February.

The amendment enables the police
to detain people suspected of committingeconomic crimes, including
corruption, money laundering and illegal dealingin foreign exchange and
gold, for up to a week. The police can also holdsuspects for a further 21
days if prima facie evidence of their involvementis produced, without giving
them the option of applying for bail or paying afine.

"The
legislation violates the Bill of Rights enshrined in the
Zimbabweanconstitution. Even the parliamentary legal committee had given an
adversereport on the legislation, despite which it has gone through
parliament,"said John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the
University ofZimbabwe and chairman of Transparency International in
Zimbabwe.

The regulations were introduced as part of Mugabe's attempts to
clamp downon corruption after a senior ZANU-PF central committee member,
JamesMakamba, was arrested in February. Makamba, the chairman of
Telecel,Zimbabwe's third largest cellular telephone company, last week
pleadedguilty to six counts of illegally dealing in foreign currency in his
trialat the Harare magistrate's court.

ZANU-PF MP for Chinhoyi,
Phillip Chiyangwa, and Jane Mutasa, another Teleceldirector, have also been
arrested on charges of sabotaging the economy.

Zimbabwe's
attorney-general, Bharat Patel, denied that the new legislationwas
"unconstitutional", and said it was to be used in "specific cases",
themerits of which would be assessed by at least two authorities: the court
andhis office. "The courts have the right to apply their minds" to
decidewhether the police have the grounds to continue the detention of
thesuspect, as does the attorney-general to ensure that there is no abuse
ofpowers by the police.

"The legislation is still being hotly debated
- and rightly so - for theinclusion of more safeguards," Patel told
IRIN.

"Corruption cannot be fought in isolation, without the protection
of therights of individuals, especially fundamental rights such as the
presumptionof innocence, which is the supporting tenet of our criminal
justice deliverysystem," said Otto Saki, a projects lawyer with Zimbabwe
Lawyers for HumanRights.

"You don't have to be a lawyer to ascertain
that the regulations arepatently and overtly unconstitutional. Section
13(1)(e) of the Constitutionof Zimbabwe provides that one may be deprived of
the right to liberty uponreasonable suspicion of having committed, or being
about to commit, acriminal offence. However, there must be prima facie
grounds for arrestingthat person," he said.

According to Saki, the
legislation legalises the "heretical theory" of"arrest first and investigate
later", which he alleged had already becomecharacteristic of the
police.

He argued that the legislation would make room for more
corruption. "Thepolice have effectively been given wide powers to arrest
without reasonablesuspicion and to detain suspects in custody until they
have completed theirinvestigations," Saki said.

"The police will
effectively be the arresting detail; the prosecution willbe rendered
useless; the magistrate and the judge will not have a say in thebail
application; the accused, to buy his freedom, will have to bribe hisway
out."

A FORMER Zimbabwean MP who fled Robert
Mugabe's regime to live in Wetherbyhas voiced his fears for his friends and
family living in South Africa.

Charles Duke, who left Zimbabwe shortly
after being beaten around the headwith lead piping by a gang of men, says he
isconcerned his brother and children will be in trouble if the regime
spreadsthrough South Africa."I asked my brother to leave but he said no.
I think he is being morehopeful than me," said Mr Duke, who was born in
Southern Rhodesia and cameto Wetherby with his wife Jill five years
ago.He says his family and friends enjoy a comfortable life in South Africa
andwould find it difficult to move to Britain, especially as some have
youngchildren.When he lived in Zimbabwe, Mr Duke was a
millionairegeologist who owned two gold mines and three houses. Hefled
the country with almost nothing.Mr Duke has written a book about his
experiences in Zimbabwe where he servedas an MP under both former Prime
Minister Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe beforecoming to Wetherby.He joined
Mugabe's Zanu PF government in 1987 but he says later on he foundhimself
spied on by Mugabe's secret police and the subject of a brutalattack which
he believed was government-backed. He still bears the scars ofthe beating -
a two-inch wide dent in his head."I can't go back there. Look what happened
to me and I was a minister in theZanu PF," he said.Mr Duke says the
problems in Zimbabwe lie deeper than just Mugabe and thepeople who surround
him are just as much to blame. "I don't personally blamehim. I think if you
put anyone else in that regime it would be the same,"said Mr Duke.He
added he and his wife had settled well in Wetherby and were pleased to bein
the town. "I think Wetherby is a terrific little town and the people hereare
super," said Mr Duke."I've toured most of England and there's no place I
would rather be," headded.sarah.kelly@ypn.co.uk